Review: The Dichotomy of Angels by N.R. Walker

Nathaniel and Chasan are angels who are twin flames, one fire and the other air. The pair are fated mates and their lives are destined to be intertwined. However, for the last 1000 years, Nathaniel has wanted nothing to do with Chasan. An event in his past has scarred Nathaniel emotionally and he doesn’t want a relationship with Chasan, nor to be tied together by fate. That doesn’t stop Chasan from wanting Nathaniel, but he knows pushing things will only make stubborn Nathaniel dig in further.

The two angels are given an assignment on Earth to help a child find their way. They know nothing about who the child is, or what they will need to do to provide guidance. They are just told they are posing as married preschool teachers for the assignment. While Chasan has done many assignments with humans over the years, Nathaniel has spent almost all his time up in heaven and is not well-prepared for the human world. New York City is noisy and overwhelming and he isn’t thrilled about dealing with the kids, nor about living and working with Chasan. But Nathaniel has a softer side than he lets on, and he takes to working with the children and finds much to enjoy about the human world.

Personally, the men are getting along better than either expected. Chasan can see hints that Nathaniel might be softening toward him, that he might be starting to take steps toward admitting his feelings. Chasan knows Nathaniel is scared, and hopes that with time he will come around. But for every bit of progress, it seems like something pulls Nathaniel back. Now the men must decide once and for all if they are really meant to be together, or if it is time to break the bond between them.

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from The Dichotomy of Angels, but for some reason, I didn’t anticipate the lightness mixed in with the more serious elements. I really enjoyed the humor here and the bits of snark and fun. Some of this comes at Nathaniel’s expense, as he expresses his frustration at the human world with which he is mostly unfamiliar, as well as his irritation that he lost his ability to smite and to swear when he came to Earth (even worse, the other angels can still do both). But there is also a lot of humor surrounding the various angels as they interact, as well as a sense of fun built into the whole heavenly machine running run the show. It gives the book a lightness that really works and balances nicely with the more intense themes. I also really enjoyed the world building here and the way heaven works and how the angels interact with humans and each other. There is enough detail to keep things well developed without taking over the story.

The book is primarily focused on Nathaniel and Chasan sorting through their relationship. It is clear as a reader that Nathaniel truly cares about Chasan, he just doesn’t want to. He doesn’t want their destiny, he doesn’t feel worthy of a partner, and he is scared. Having this be clear means it is easier to have some patience with him when Nathaniel is stubborn. That said, this is a relatively long book and, for me, too much of it was focused on this back and forth, will he or won’t he, from Nathaniel. For almost every step forward, there is a step back, and every time it seems like Nathaniel is softening and ready to try building something with Chasan, he changes his mind. So it felt like these guys are in limbo, not really making progress, for the vast majority of the book. This is compounded by the fact that the assignment they are on really doesn’t play much of a role in their day to day, so the only real storyline here is the men and their relationship. They go about their days teaching and interacting with the kids, but since they don’t know who they are supposed to be helping, this is all mostly background and not really a part of the plot for the majority of the book. As a result, I found a lot of this just a little slow.

Once the men get together, things take off for them personally. They are happy and in love and having all the sex they can manage to explore in their human bodies. Not all is perfect at that point, but I did feel like the story was moving forward at a brisker pace. I like how things all came together in the end and there is a lot of warmth and warm fuzzies with how it all resolves.

So I found this book to have a nice sense of humor and interesting world building. I liked both the men together and seeing how their destinies intertwined. I do feel like the book ran a little slow at times as the guys struggled to move forward. But overall, this is a story I definitely enjoyed.

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A Little About Joyfully Jay!

Welcome to Joyfully Jay! My name is Jay and I started this blog because I love to read and wanted a place to share my thoughts with other readers and lovers of romance. Joyfully Jay kicked off back in September 2011 and we are growing bigger every day! We review primarily romance featuring men, but we also review all kinds of LGBTQ romance here, as well as literary fiction and non-fiction. In addition to book reviews, we host daily author guest posts and regular giveaways. So lots of fun stuff and we keep quite busy here! …read more